OXFORD – School officials are washing down school buses after every school run and doorknobs are being washed every hour to help stop the spread of germs during the outbreak of H1N1, more commonly known as swine flu.

“We’ve been trying to stay on top of what is a rapidly changing situation.” Marcye Gray, special education director, told the SAD 17 Board of Directors this week.

Gray, who oversees the school nurses, told the board that the staff, including lead nurse Ann Johnson, had to gear up for the flu outbreak quickly and they distributed guidelines to parents last Friday.

Although there are no confirmed cases in the district or county as of Monday, staff, students, parents and others have been advised to take precautions, such as washing hands frequently.

Gray said there is concern about what will happen if a school or the district has to be closed.

Officials are set to meet Thursday to discuss the implications of a school closing. Although school officials say they normally look at closing a school if more than 10 percent of the school population is out sick, in this case, they are being told by the Maine Center for Disease Control that if there is one suspected case of flu, that school must close. If the student has accessed any other school, that building would be closed, too, or if she or he sat in a school bus where students from another school had ridden, that would mean the closure of all those schools.

In the case of SAD 17, the same buses are used for elementary, middle and high school bus runs.

School officials say one of the most important things is for students and staff to stay at home if they have a temperature of 100 degrees or more.

“We are not encouraging anyone to overreact,” Gray said.